I am the new Office Service Specialist for a firm in San Francisco and I have been told to "fix all the printers". I have not had any prior experience with working on printers until this gig but after being 6 months in I have been getting pretty seasoned, HOWEVER I have some reeeeaaaaal old printers and 4 out of 7 of them need new Maintenance Kits (aside from new toner). When I was first hired I brought this up to my supervisors who are also clueless in regards to printer repair, and they are VERY on the fence about spending a couple hundred dollars (each) on new parts or new printers.

The printers that I have are:

- HP LaserJet 600 M601 (this is pretty much the only fully functioning printer we have.)

- HP LaserJet 600 M602 (x2)

- HP LaserJet 4015 (x3)

- HP Color LaserJet CP4525

In order to repair the 4 that straight up don't work it is estimated to cost me $1,777.23 (based on googling the prices for said parts).

5 Replies

I'd replace, actually you could propose turning the printers into a opex. If you can find a print management company that is a brother re-seller they have a really good rental program where servoce, ink, everything except paper is coverd under the monthly cost with no print limits.

Regarding repairing the existing printers, what sort of issues do you have? You’ve said that some straightforward don’t work, but is that a case of they won’t power on? Or give some form of error?I’ve had good success with maintenance kits in the past on the LaserJet 5Si, LaserJet 9000, and possibly the smaller 2600 range. But, printers have moved on a bit. The kits generally include pretty decent instructions too. Taking a quick search for the maintenance kit for the M602, it includes Fuser, Transfer, and pickup and feed Rollers. Generally, if you’re struggling with print quality, or the toner isn’t staying on the paper, or you’re getting paper jams , a maintenance kit could well be the way to go. But, it really does depend on the issues you’re experiencing. Perhaps get a maintenance kit, see how it goes (assuming printer does at least power on), see if you’re successful before committing to buying kits for all printers, or before committing to new printers.

If the only option is repair or replace those models, then I'd replace. And when you go to replace, be certain that you buy one that is rated for the level of use that it will get. The main problem I've seen with printers over the years is people buying inexpensive desktop printers, then trying to send 100k pages a month to them, and it just burns them up.

Personally, I think the best option is to lease an MFC standing copier and network everyone to it. Those machines are built to handle volume, the leased ones generally have a service plan so toner/repairs are no longer your responsibility, and in the end it the cost per-page is cheaper than a bunch of desktop printers.

Any of those save the 4525 are very serviceable good for about a million pages minimum. If you have additional trays or duplexing you can easily spend your entire parts cost on a single replacement printer. Be cautious with parts though, some of the third party and reman parts are absolute crap that will give you more frustration than quality pages.